Posted by This morning I was reading in Numbers 6, which talks about the Nazirite vow. A man who was a Nazirite to God was not allowed to drink alcohol, eat anything unclean or cut his hair. When I read that, I automatically thought of Samson, so I headed over to Judges 13 and read this in verse 5:
“for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
This is what the Lord told to Samson’s mom before he was born. After Samson is born he does some crazy things like kill 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone. He’s clearly fulfilling his purpose, killing Philistines so that Israel will no longer be oppressed by them. But then he gets a little off course when he meets Delilah. Samson falls in love with her, even though she was a spy for the Philistines trying to discover how they could overpower him. Eventually Samson tells her that if his hair gets cut he will no longer have power. She does this, allowing the Philistines come in and capture Samson.
Right now it’s not looking too good for Samson, but God wasn’t done with him- he hadn’t fulfilled his purpose yet. A great crowd of the Philistines had gathered to worship their god Dagon, and called Samson out so they could be “entertained” by him. There were about 3,000 people watching him, and they were in for quite a show. Samson positioned himself between two pillars and prayed that God would renew his strength, and God did! Judges 16:30 says:
“And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines”. Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life”.
I know this is a pretty gruesome story, but it illustrates an awesome point. God’s purpose for your life will be fulfilled in you. Sometimes you will be exactly where you need to be, clearly accomplishing your purpose, and other times it will look as though you’ve gotten off track. Don’t freak out in those times, continue to seek God and glorify Him where you are and trust in the fact that it’s impossible for you not to fulfill the purpose God has planned for you!
Failure is not an option for God!
Work in Progress 